With lit lanterns drifting peacefully across the Harrison Lagoon, the final night of the 40th Harrison Festival of the Arts showed no signs of the struggles faced by organizers the week prior.
Harrison Festival Society executive director Andy Hillhouse said the festival always keeps organizers busy but this year they had even more on their plates when Village of Harrison workers went on strike.
“Any normal festival, we’re…completely consumed with a million details. To have to worry about this too was very stressful on the staff. But people stayed positive and just did it.”
The labour dispute came with months off failed negotiations between the workers – members of CUPE Local 458 – and management at the Village of Harrison, mainly surrounding scheduling and hours.
READ: Deadlocked: Village of Harrison workers strike after negotiations fail
But the strike didn’t start until July 9, the third day of the nine-day festival. That morning Village workers set up a picket line outside Memorial Hall – a municipal building – and the venue for the night’s performance had to be moved to St. Alice Hall, and moved again to the Harrison Lake Hotel when St. Alice Hall expressed union support.
The following night’s performance was preemptively moved to the hotel again, in case picketing resumed. By Wednesday, the Village had agreed to get back to the table to negotiate and the union then promised to stop picketing municipal buildings in locations that impacted the festival.
READ: ‘The rest of the festival is a big question mark’
READ: UPDATED: Picketing at Harrison Festival ends
But according to Hillhouse, some damage to the festival had already been done. Revenue was lost when the performances were moved to locations where the festival wasn’t licensed to sell liquor or beer.
“That’s quite an important part of our income,” Hillhouse said. “We also had to limit the seating in that venue.”
But the biggest impacts were behind-the-scenes, he added.
Even after the parties had met Wednesday, no resolutions were made, and the strike continued until a second meeting on Saturday. Festival organizers weren’t sure how that meeting would go and prepared a second venue and stage on private property.
“We had to send someone to Chilliwack to get risers for another stage,” he recalled. “We don’t know what kind of impact the threat of the picket had on audiences. We had people phoning the office asking whether it was going to go ahead or if we were moving…there was that kind of uncertainty.”
But according to Hillhouse, the uncertainty of the week showed just how strong the festival is.
“It tested the limits of the organization. But the good news is it also showed us what an incredible group of people we have here. People just pulled together and made it happen.”
Hillhouse added, “I’m really happy they reached an agreement and sorted it out. It’s just the timing of it with our festival was very, very unfortunate.
Despite the adversity the festival did its work and it’s stronger than ever.”
In a statement released July 10, CUPE 458 said it would stop picketing locations that impacted the festival. “We know that it has been challenging for all those involved in the festival and for residents, and that is why we made every effort to find a solution that could allow the festival to go on,” the statement reads.
CUPE 458 acting president Darlene Worthylake emphasized that even while striking, the workers cared deeply about the festival and did not want to see it impacted.
“The workers agreed to not picket down by the beach…they stayed near the Village office and they did that because…they sincerely cared about the festival and the community.”
The strike ended Sunday when a new agreement was reached. Workers returned to their jobs Monday morning.
